1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personalized sound systems, including an ear level device adapted to be worn on the ear and provide audio processing according to a hearing profile of the user and companion devices that act as sources of audio data.
2. Description of Related Art
Assessing an individual's hearing profile is important in a variety of contexts. For example, individuals with hearing profiles that are outside of a normal range must have their profile recorded for the purposes of prescribing hearing aids which fit the individual profile. U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,474 B2, by Rader et al., describes a mobile phone with audio processing functionality that can be adapted to the hearing profile of the user, addressing many of the problems of the use of mobile phones by hearing impaired persons. See also, International Publication No. WO 01/24576 A1, entitled PRODUCING AND STORING HEARING PROFILES AND CUSTOMIZED AUDIO DATA BASED (sic), by Pluvinage et al., which describes a variety of applications of hearing profile data.
With improved wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth technology, techniques have been developed to couple hearing aids using wireless networks to other devices, for the purpose of programming the hearing aid and for coupling the hearing aid with sources of sound other than the ambient environment. See, for example, International Publication No. WO 2004/110099 A2, entitled HEARING AID WIRELESS NETWORK, by Larsen et al.; International Publication No. WO 01/54458 A2, entitled HEARING AID SYSTEMS, by Eaton et al.; German Laid-open Specification DE 102 22 408 A 1, entitled INTEGRATION OF HEARING SYSTEMS INTO HOUSEHOLD TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS by Dageforde. In Larsen et al. and Dageforde, for example, the idea is described of coupling a hearing aid by wireless network to a number of sources of sound, such as door bells, mobile phones, televisions, various other household appliances and audio broadcast systems.
One problem associated with these prior art ideas, which incorporate a variety of sound sources into a network with a hearing aid, arises because of the need for significant amounts of data processing resources at each audio source to support participation in the network. So there is a need for techniques to reduce the data processing requirements needed at a sound source for participation in the network. Another problem with prior art systems incorporating a variety of sound sources into a network with a hearing aid arises because the sampling rates, audio processing parameters and processing techniques needed for the various sources of sound are not the same. So simply providing a channel between the hearing aid and variant audio sources is not effective. Furthermore, for diverse personal sound systems, techniques for managing the process of switching from one source to another must be developed.
Thus, technologies for improving the compatibility of hearing aids with mobile phones and other audio sources are needed.